Querrey on the Rise in L.A.

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BY JOSH GAJEWSKI

LOS ANGELES – He played as if he never left. The popping serve, the crisp forehand – Sam Querrey put his very best on display Wednesday night at the Farmers Classic, a hometown tournament he won twice before a bad elbow last year prevented him from a three-peat.
Though if anyone looked away Wednesday, they might have missed it.

His final forehand, a crushing pass that skidded through the corner, came off his racket just as the match clock clicked over to 50 minutes. Just like that, it was over, a 6-2, 6-2 second-round win over Dutch player Igor Sijsling.

Querrey, who had a bye in the first round, looked like every bit the tournament champion of 2009 and 2010, rather than the player who’d been struggling to get his game back in Challenger-level matches following elbow surgery last summer.

“That was much quicker than I (expected),” Querrey said after, “but yeah, I’ll take that.”

Coming off an impressive showing at Wimbledon – he had a breakthrough win against Milos Raonic before losing a third-round marathon to Marin Cilic, 17-15 in the final set – Querrey seems to have announced his return as a contender, as much in words as with his play of late.

In the press room afterward, a player who’s been knocked publicly before for seeming at times too lackadaisical, couldn’t have sounded more sure of himself. “I feel like I’m playing at a Top 20 level right now,” he said, “and feel like I’m going to continue to play like that.

“I don’t know who I’m going to play but if I keep serving well, hitting my forehand big, I feel like this is my tournament to win. I feel like I play great here, I want to win, and I think I can win it, so I don’t care who I’m going to play.”

Querrey, ranked as high as No. 17 before his injury last year and as low as No. 125 during his comeback, is now back up to No. 57. And climbing; with most of the world’s top players in London for the Olympics, Querrey said he’s looking to pick up more ground in L.A. and next week in Washington, D.C.

And as for a third win in four years ? Well, the L.A. native, who lives with his girlfriend in Dallas now but is staying at his parents’ home while here, said it would still feel like the three-peat he could have had.

“It would mean a lot. … In my mind, it would be like three times in a row. So it would just be great for my confidence, to get a tournament win, to get one here and it would be a great start for the summer series.”